Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a centrifugal fluid seal, and more specifically to one that is capable of accommodating high relative rotational speeds between a shaft and a housing.
Prior Art
All presently known types of shaft seals have small leakages during operation, the leakage rate tending to increase in response to increasing circumferential speeds. In certain applications, these leakage losses are not acceptable. Further, known elastomeric lip seals which involve frictional contact between relatively rotating sealing surfaces and an elastomeric lip, are especially disadvantageous at high speeds and/or over long operational periods. Even with optimum lubrication, wear and heat damage an elastomeric lip and/or the opposing surface in a relatively short time. For example, a life test of a modern elastomeric lip seal has a 50% failure rate in 1200 hours.